City urged to fight chronic disease, its consequences

Friday

May 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMMay 30, 2008 at 10:32 PM

It's not rocket science.

It's not rocket science.

Get off the couch and step away from the chips.

"Everybody's got to move. We don't want to make you an athlete, you've just got to get moving, and eat a little less," former U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told health, business and community leaders who gathered in Columbus yesterday.

"How do we change a culture that eats what it wants when it wants and puts off exercise until tomorrow?"

Carmona is heading a national effort to push preventative care as a way to combat chronic disease and save millions in health-care costs.

Such ailments -- including diabetes, heart disease, asthma and high blood pressure -- are responsible for seven out of every 10 deaths in the United States and often are preventable.

Chronic disease also is responsible in large part for soaring heath-care costs, with 75 cents of every dollar spent on health care going toward treating chronic diseases. In Ohio, such ailments cost nearly $57 billion a year in health care and lost productivity, according to a recent study by the Milken Institute, an economic-policy group. The national tab is more than $1 trillion.

Statistics recently released by the Columbus Public Health Department show some disturbing trends. Ohio has the sixth-highest death rate in the nation from diabetes while Columbus' diabetes mortality rate is twice the national average.

Obesity, which causes many health problems, is prevalent as well, with more than half of Franklin County adults and 13 percent of children overweight.

"We have a sick-care system, not a health-care system, in this country. That's why this diverse coalition is sounding the alarm and calling for action," Carmona said.

"Despite any differences we may have on other issues, we all agree on a single, undeniable fact: 130 million people suffer from chronic diseases in our nation, and the costs are skyrocketing because of preventable and poorly managed chronic diseases."

Business, labor and health-care organizations joined this year to make Ohio the fourth state to launch a local chapter of the Partnership to Prevent Chronic Disease. While efforts have so far focused on states considered key in the upcoming presidential election, Carmona said solutions are likely to come from local efforts, not the federal government.

"We don't lack the information; we know what to do. We need the political will to change," he said.